Elite Dangerous And Star Citizen Differences ?

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Dicehunter

Dicehunter

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Looking at both games on YouTube has me interested but what is actually the difference between them ? To me they look like they are going for the same things.

I know SC is still in alpha/beta but will the end products mirror each other ?
 
A few thoughts:

Elite:
* Some real life astronomy mixed in with the World War 2 dog fighting mechanics (ie low top speeds when fighting).
* The graphics are all semi plausible visions of the future
* It is supposed to have a working background simulation whereby you can influence AI system factions [its not currently working what-so-ever, but may do one day] via trading/shooting.

* Not been designed with PVP in mind. This month's Wings update may only facilitate better (currently non existent) co-op game play. Perhaps this will change if they want to succeed with a console release at the end of the year.
* Procedurally generated systems with very little in the way of procedures (outside of the planet formation bit which has clearly had lots of work). All are the same. You might get a shiny gold coloured space station in one, and a glowing red coloured one in the next. But they are all of the same two types. 1 nav point each. Extraction points only have 3 types of ship to fight. Civil war points are identical.

Star Citizen:
* Hand crafted systems, ala Freelancer. (100 odd? or so)
* A single player story supposedly due at the end of this year. Persistent online game at least a year after.

* The ship designs do not even try to pretend to be realistic. Engines not in line with center of mavity (thrust axis), stupid turret positions/sponsons, over the top air vents.

But they seem to be more popular with younger players/Americans.

* Remains to be seen if the (obscene prices) pre-purchasing of ship insurance will lead towards pay to win PVP.




I'm writing too much, and it ends up sounding negative when I really like Elite (the astrophysics stuff is worth the cost alone) and I've liked all the Wing commander/Freelancer past games. Its not a case of 1 vs the other. Everyone will end up buying both.

There are lots of youtube on this subject that will give much better explanations than a quick post.
 
The main difference is that Star Citizen is going to be a multiplayer experience, with PvP. ED is largely a sandbox for people to go roaming around the galaxy exploring on their own, original Elite in a new frock at the moment.
 
The first is a PC game, the latter is conceptual art that may turn into a game at some point in the foreseeable future.
 
Zethor said:
The first is a PC game, the latter is conceptual art that may turn into a game at some point in the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...

lol haters got to hate.

There is a lot of work to be done still but there is stilla reasonable amount that has been realised as game assets and not "conceptual art"
 
Then instead let us say that Elite exists as a complete playable game that can be purchased right now while Star Citizen is a bunch of small modules that is hoped to gel into a game some time around Q1 2017 and that can be purchased right now.

Personally speaking, I have no faith in a game studio that designs in-game toilets before their main engine. This is coming from someone who loved Wing Commander and has been playing Chris Roberts' game literally since the start of his career.
 
JeditOjanen said:
Then instead let us say that Elite exists as a complete playable game that can be purchased right now...
Click to expand...

Lets be honest here, Elite is far from complete and was released early, it's a good game but missing essential features like proper multi-player support or grouping.
Though SC could still fail miserably, I don't prefer either because one isn't properly out as release version, but it's touted to have so much more on release.

ci_newman said:
The big worry with Star Citizen is the prospect of pay2win. There has been no sign of it in ED but all the hallmarks are there for SC
Click to expand...

Careful, the fanboys won't be happy!
Let's not mention to them they're limiting the massive large ships to balance the game on release, because they know it's a powerful asset that you can buy with real money.
(Their argument is you can't win the game, but thats not the point and even the creators of the game knows this).
 
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ED:
Fully playable universe and lots to discover with community driven events that change the power (faction standings) of the systems within(currently only in 3 systems, will extend to more)
lots of flyable ships
up comming "wings" (group with friends/guildies)
not as grand in scope as SC or as graphical in nature but very very fun
very enjoyable pvp/pve or exploring

SC:
Universe not released yet, only has Arena commander (Test fly ships vs AI/Players or race) constantly being improved but no where near a finished product yet
Single player campaign out sometime this year
Very high graphical fidelity
being released modular (FPS module, planetside module, single player, alpha universe, beta universe, full release)

Disagree with the above posted about pay2win, currently in arena commander because it's alpha and ships are being worked on a ship that costs £100 is going to be better than a ship that costs £50 however come persistent universe you can buy ALL ships with ingame cash along with ALL weapons/Ship fittings and voyager direct store will go so instead of pay2win imagine it as "Pay to be slightly further along at full release" and that state wont last very long when people start playing properly.
I backed because I want this game out and I have a decent ship to start me off on a career path I would like to pick (Military, close escort, intercept and destroy)

I have both because they are both worth it each has their own merits of course star citizen is essentially only a small alpha demo at the moment but looks beautiful and gives you a laugh in the PvP matches

loved both games so much that I bought a Thrustmaster T-flight hotas to play them with
 
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murah said:
ED:
Fully playable universe and lots to discover with community driven events that change the power (faction standings) of the systems within(currently only in 3 systems, will extend to more)
lots of flyable ships
up comming "wings" (group with friends/guildies)
not as grand in scope as SC or as graphical in nature but very very fun
very enjoyable pvp/pve or exploring
Click to expand...

You see, the way you word it makes it sound like there's more to it so as a counter to that because I think it's fair to get two opposite opinions.

Fully playable universe, for arguments sake a galaxy but it's so big it might as well be.
However the saying a mile wide but an inch deep flows through many discussions of this.

Lots to discover? Once you've discovered once it's the same, there's nothing else to it, I mean it's quite literally a button press. There are no anomalies or anything past planets, moons, suns and black holes. Right? No mystique, no treasure (not literal), no allure.
At least not for me, I can see why it might for some with an imagination.

I'm all for mindless travelling, I play euro truck sim and I play flight sims (commercial and fighter) but it feels quite dead in elite. There no mechanics to it, nothing rare to find (that we know of), no aliens, no relics or traces of ancient civilisations or derelict ships (beyond USS cargo and wrecks). Nothing that makes you go wow, what the hell happened here or "look what I found!" just more same of the same. No wormholes (again that we know of) or getting knocked out of hyperspace (aside from interdiction).

I mean literally all there is to do is moving in space, going somewhere and scanning.
That's it. They couldn't have made it less functional, it's impossible to have made it any more basic. Well, I'm exaggerating they could have removed the scanning function..but that's it.

Community events are a step forward, making it feel like the players are making any sort of dent in the autonomy of the background noise/ai. I feel there's going to be lots of whining with those in bigger badder ships taking on smaller ships, such is the way of the game but it's hard to keep up with the "which is the next exploitive way to make credits before they patch it and people move to the next one" which seems to be rampant on reddit. I've never taken part in any of these any earned my credits the normal way but I am kicking myself for not saving an entire 40 hours worth of grinding for something someone probably did in 5.
 
mid_gen said:
The main difference is that Star Citizen is going to be a multiplayer experience, with PvP. ED is largely a sandbox for people to go roaming around the galaxy exploring on their own, original Elite in a new frock at the moment.
Click to expand...

I think the beauty with Elite is you have both options. You can light your own way through the cosmos bumping into the odd Human commander and plenty of NPC ships to spice things up. But I’ve seen twenty plus Human commanders circling a space station on salute to Kate Russell (BBC) who streamed for charity over the Christmas period. When she arrived in her home station she named being a backer it was a real eye opener to see so many real human ships.

Plus I watch a guy on twitch From the UK who recently got into Elite and often plays with a few friends one in the states and the other in Australia. Once they worked out how the friend and instance thing works and a wee bit of effort it worked really well. The Auz guy was teaching the streamer how to play and it was a bit of follow my leader. Great stuff. Wings will make it even better. So I think the MP element of Elite will simple become the norm as it gets a lot more organised.
 
Some very good points, Star Citizen looks like it could be great but it depends if it comes together, there are many ambitious projects that never fulfil all their promises, plus the pay to win possibilities are worrying, but time will tell.

Elite Dangerous on the other hand is complete, but is so lacking in things to do that you've really got to hope its far from complete and it can eventually live up to what it could be.

Anyway, not sure that's really the debate the OP was looking for... :)
 
I agree more stuff to find in space is needed. It needs an injection of life, Wow factors etc but it's early days and I’d trust David Braben over any developer I know to try and achieve making Elite as good as the Original in its day. I played the game that started it all off on the BBC Micro the daddy and the first 3D game and space sim and introduced a new concept of Open ended play with no score etc. Elite was the genesis for Wing commander, Privateer, Eve, Freelancer etc and every game that has came since.

Lets see what David can do now with his hugely successful Frontier Company.
 
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I’m sure what Chris does will be interesting as well but from what I’ve seen it just does not appeal to me personally. When you can spend hundreds if not thousands on ships in real money it’s a big turn off. I foresee lots of kids in space in huge well equipped ships because daddy has got his wallet out and that can hardly impress. Lack of skill, playing time but hay I can buy success or achievement and I don’t see the fun in that.
 
I think in all honesty you'd be best counting what's similar between the games.

1. Primarily set in space.
2. Involve space ships, planetary bodies, asteroids and future pew pew weapons.
3. Involves crowd funding.
4. Involves two well respected gaming pioneers.

These are different games, I enjoy Elite: Dangerous but the game is poorly designed from a multiplayer aspect and I'm hopeful it'll improve, it is frankly an inch deep and a mile wide though. Tons of systems which are procedurally generated but very little to do other than fly through them and look at generic system 439034094309.

I've higher hopes for Star Citizen but to be honest I agree with what Chris has written, I'm arguably a fan boy of both at heart.

Sav112 - Buying ships, this isn't possible post release and everything can be purchased, sold or stolen in game. There is no Pay to win here and frankly I'm past caring if people think that's the model - after release they'll realise it's not and those who are time-rich will quickly level and surpass those of us who are cash rich/time poor. Lack of skill, knowledge and friends in Star Citizen is going to be far, far more punishing than in Elite: Dangerous. It's going to make Eve Online look like a carebear universe, I don't think people realise just how brutal it's going to be.
 
Sav112 said:
I’m sure what Chris does will be interesting as well but from what I’ve seen it just does not appeal to me personally. When you can spend hundreds if not thousands on ships in real money it’s a big turn off. I foresee lots of kids in space in huge well equipped ships because daddy has got his wallet out and that can hardly impress. Lack of skill, playing time but hay I can buy success or achievement and I don’t see the fun in that.
Click to expand...

Elite: Dangerous also sold ships as part of the kickstarter pledge system, that's why I have a Cobra MKIII with upgraded weapons etc when I start.

Bottom like is that Star Citizen pledge ships are out dated the instant the game launches, the entire game is built upon upgrading and customising ships so standard equipment will be like normal loot in MMOs - fine to start with but quickly trash.
 
What we really need is a new Freelancer or Wing Commander.

Its hard to fairly compare Elite and SC as SC is much further from release, I'd expect No Mans Sky to come first and that looks really special, if a bit at risk of the same lack of things to do that Elite seems to suffer from.

It's a pity really that with this revival of the Space Sim genre, the only series that kept it going in the 2000s, Egosofts X-Series, has really fallen.
 
I don’t rally care about Pay to win either or how much people will try and impress spending silly amounts on content as long as you can get the stuff just by playing over time. With this new Elite and Dayz I’ve decided to get a high end rig able to play games again. Not played games since BF2 Project reality in 2007 now that was brutal to the max. Not looked into the star game too much as I’ve just not been impressed with anything I’ve read or seen to make me take more interest. It’s very early and from what I have read between the lines a lot of stuff has got dropped/put off to make the game better but I did watch a guy spend £800 on ships that made me just think wow that’s really taking the ****. Nothing against the game. I just want to get a new Rig, a X52 pro, Voice attack and Track IR and just get lost in Elite. Waited thirty years to play Elite online so cant wait.


No Man's Sky vs. Elite Dangerous vs. Star Citizen - What's the Difference?
http://youtu.be/8D-TQIFqJBY
 
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